Fisher, Foles, Gurley, Laurinaitis, Brockers, McDonald…transcripts

They don’t deserve color titles today.

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Head Coach Jeff Fisher

Note: the vid of this is here — http://theramshuddle.com/topic/fisher-post-game/

(Opening remarks)
“First off, I congratulate my close friend (Bears Head Coach) John Fox on the win. Not easy to do what he did, to go on a west coast trip, play Monday night, come back and on a short week, and get back on the road again. Those things are hard and teams in the last five years have been 2-7 in that. Their coaching staff did a nice job. I give them credit. We got outplayed, got out coached. We didn’t play well. I’m really disappointed. We just need to keep working. We had a few injuries, ‘JB’ (OL Jamon Brown) doesn’t look good, it looks like a lower leg fracture. So he’ll probably be done. Then we had (OL) Rob (Havenstein) come out with a calf sprain, so we made some changes up on the offensive line. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t be the reason that we lost the game. Two big plays on defense were kind of backbreakers. We had three-and-outs in the first opening drives of the last four weeks, which is not good. We spent some time on it. It was really good to get the ball in the end zone on the opening drive. I thought we were on our way, and then we give up the big play defensively, and then we just kind of battled back and forth. I’ll take the fake punt, that’s on me. I’m trying to win the game. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, but that’s our personality. You’ve seen them work, you’ve seen them be difference makers in games. But we’ll keep going. We’ve got to bounce back this week and go.”

(On if OL Jamon Brown’s injury was because he fell awkwardly)
“You know what, I don’t know. When I got over there he was in a lot of pain. It was on the interception return. He tried to make a tackle and in those particular situations, sometimes you get landed on in the back or get your foot caught in the turf. It’s unfortunate for ‘JB’ because he was off to a great rookie year.”

(On if he considered a quarterback change during the game or if he will moving forward)
“No. That’s my choice, but no. I’m just going to look at it. We have to play better around him (QB Nick Foles). I’ll look and see how he played, but he was prepared. He had a great practice this week and he missed a couple of throws and we had a couple of drops. We’ll look at it, but at this point, no.”

(On if Foles has lost any confidence)
“He’s a confident, competitive person. He thought, with seven minutes left to go in the game, we were going to put two drives together and score. That’s how he is and it’s real. It’s got some realness to it. It’s not one of those things that you think how someone is supposed to act. I don’t think confidence is an issue with him.”

(On if the first long touchdown by the Bears was a result of a missed tackle on the blitzing side)
“Yeah, we were in post-defense with single coverage and they got a block and we missed a tackle. You don’t see that happen against our defense, and of course the screen pass as well. You don’t see those big plays against our defense. Uncharacteristic of us today defensively.”

(On if any part of Bears RB Jeremy Langford’s performance caught the Rams coaching staff off-guard)
“No. We really had respect for his play, including this game. We had him rated quite high coming out of the draft and we have respect for his ability. I think he had close to 150 all-purpose yards last week, so he’s filling in for (Bears RB) Matt (Forte) really well and they’re excited to have him. So no, we felt like he was one of those guys we had to contend with.”

(On if he feels like he should be past games like this at this point in his tenure with the Rams)
“Yeah, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. With four minutes to go in the game we had eight first downs. You can’t win games like that.”

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QB Nick Foles

(On what happened to the offense after the fast start)
“We started out fast. That’s what we’ve been wanting to do. That’s one of the things that we’ve been harping on it. It just came down to too many penalties. Everybody had their fair share. I mean, we just didn’t play well, didn’t execute. It takes 11 guys on offense to execute. If one piece is out of whack, it’s not going to work. We have a young group. We just have to continue to work on it, continue to be disciplined in everything that we do. We just have to keep working. The Bears came in here and played a great game. I know they had a tough week and they came in here and beat us. It’s as simple as that.”

(On how he thinks he performed)
“I mean, not good enough to win. We’re not winning, so I have to keep working to get better, working to make sure offensively we get rolling. I feel good. Rhythm, I feel good dropping back, throwing, reading defenses – I feel good about it. But, I have to continue to play better. Part of being a quarterback is making the guys around you play better, understand. We as an offense just have to keep improving. Tomorrow, we’ll go back in there, watch the film and look at it critically and improve on things. That’s the game of football. We’re 4-5 right now, and we have a team that will continue to work, continue to stick together and can’t say any more than that.”

(On if he has any explanation for his high throws)
“No. I was just high on a few throws. To that, I just have to be more accurate.”

(On if he feels comfortable in the pocket right now)
“Yeah, I mean, I feel comfortable dropping and reading. Sometimes, things happen. Sometimes, guys get in and that’s part of football. That’s just stuff that we have to keep working on.”

(On if defensively the Bears threw anything at them that they weren’t expecting)
“No. They did their stuff. They rotated their coverages at times. They brought different blitz’s at times, but they stayed based to what they were doing.”

(On how he feels the team is gelling)
“I feel like gelling-wise, we’re all brothers. There’s no doubt in that. We’re all brothers and we all stick together. There’s no pointing fingers in situations like this, because it’s easy to point fingers. But, when you’re family and you’re brothers and you have that atmosphere, there’s going to be no pointing fingers because it’s all of us. We’re all going to continue to work together. We’re going to push each other. We’ll be back in tomorrow watching film and being around each other. That’s what you want. We’re fortunate to be able to play in the NFL, but on any level, you want that camaraderie. It’s easy when things are going great, the bad stuff get (swept) under the rug, shoved under the rug. But, when things don’t go how you want them to go, like today for instance, people want to complain about everything but there’s no complaining in that locker room. Everybody’s sticking together. I’m proud to be a part of this organization. I’m proud of my teammates for how they handle these situations and it builds character. The character of the team will continue to grow and we will improve.”

(On if he’s frustrated with the way things are going in his first season as a Ram)
“Yeah, I mean, there’s no written book on what’s going to happen in the NFL. I mean, there’s teams that have gone 1-15. We’re 4-5. We have a really talented team. We have a lot of young players. Those aren’t excuses. That’s excitement. That’s what I’m excited about. We have guys that are going to continue to grow, that are going to continue to get better. These opportunities…throughout my career games like this, situations like this, I look back at these moments like, ‘Hey, that was that moment that built character in me. That made me the person I am, that made me the teammate I am.’ Even with teams that have been on, there’s always that moment early on that you look at that moment like, ‘Hey, without that moment, we wouldn’t be the great team we are today.’ So, that’s how you look at moments like this is, ‘Hey, it’s just a character building moment.’ That’s all it is. Now, it’s how you handle these situations from here on if your character’s going to build or if you’ll diminish. I know the guys in that locker room and they’re going to continue to grow.”

(On if the team’s mindset is to make a run these next few games with two tough losses back to back)
“Yeah, there’s always that. That’s the optimism in the guys. That’s the optimism going around the locker room afterwards and everybody’s staying positive. Absolutely. That’s what we want. There’s no giving up on this team. There never will be. With (Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher, they’re never going to give up. It’s just back to work and keep pushing each other, keep improving, keep analyzing the film. We’ll eventually get there.”

(On if he wants to ever lash out at his teammates for penalties)
“No. It’s one of those things where you go back to it and, ‘Hey, you have to be more disciplined. You have to trust your fundamentals.’ Especially not during the game, we have to move on to the next play. But, even now, it’s like I know guys are fighting as hard as they can. It’s just, ‘Hey, what can we do in the next situation if this arises, whether if it’s your hand placement or whatever, to do it right?’ That’s how I lead. I’m not going to chew anyone out. I’m not going to belittle anyone because those are my brothers. I’m going to treat them with respect. I’m going to keep it real with them, but I’m always going to treat them with respect.”

(On the how he played with WR Wes Welker today)
“Wes is a pro. I mean, he’s one of the craftiest receivers to ever play the game. So, I’m excited about what he can do. As he and I go week to week, it’s going to be fun just continuing to grow as quarterback and wide receiver.”

(On if he would expect to be further along as an offense than he is in Week 10)
“I mean, we are where we are. I’ve never looked in advance what we would’ve been or what we should’ve been, because if you do that, your head’s going to be spinning and good luck. We are where we are. What we need to do is we need to improve. We need to continue to run the ball well. We have (No.) 30 (RB Todd Gurley) back there and we also have (RB) Tre Mason and (RB) Benny Cunningham) and we have talented wide receivers. So, it’s just coming down to, ‘Hey, what can we do better?’ If we can get the ball out quicker, get the guys running. I know we had a couple quick passes that…(WR) Brian Quick caught one and almost went to the house. So, it’s stuff like that that we’ll continue to improve on. We’re all young and we’re going to continue to keep working.”

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RB Todd Gurley

(On the team’s fast start and why they couldn’t maintain it)
“Like you said, it was downhill. We just didn’t execute like we did that first drive. I don’t know what we did, but we need to find a way to do what we did that first drive.”

(On if he was surprised at the way things went today)
“Oh yeah, man. It’s just one of those (butt)-kicking losses that happen sometimes. You know you can’t win them all.”

(On if the Bears did anything defensively that the team wasn’t expecting)
“No. But like I said, they came ready to play and we didn’t.”

(On if he thinks that teams are loading up defensively to stop him, specifically)
“No, I don’t think that.”

(On if he ever did any hurdling during his track days)
“Yes.”

(On why he thinks he didn’t get many touches after the first quarter)
“We were down. We were down by 14 points so there’s no reason to keep running the ball when you’re down.”

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LB James Laurinaitis

(On if he thought the team had turned the corner)
“Anything can happen in the NFL on Sunday, but I didn’t expect this one today.”

(On what he saw on the two long touchdown plays)
“Just missed tackles, and that’s something we’ve been doing a really good job on. For whatever reason today, we got a phenomenal start from our offense. Then we came out thinking three-and-out and get the ball back and we can open this thing up, but two plays later they’re in the end zone.”

(On if the Bears showed them anything they hadn’t seen on film)
“No. Just a lack of execution from us. They showed us a lot, just when you have big plays like that, it’s really hard to overcome those when they occur. When those happen and you get down big like that, they can do whatever they want with the football. That’s what happened today.”

(On if he was surprised that things changed so much after the first drive)
“Oh yeah. I was surprised when that second play went to the house. I mean, we’re a good tackling defense but for whatever reason today, that didn’t show up. We have a lot of reflection to do, but that can only go on for 24 hours and then you got to move on. Yeah, this one hurts.”

(On if criticism of Nick Foles and the offense is fair)
“I can’t worry about anything on that side of the ball. We have plenty of problems today on our side, so I can’t really answer that.”

(On why the lack of pressure on Jay Cutler hurt the defense)
“It felt like in the first half they were doing a good job on first and second down. We weren’t doing very well on it, so it seemed like every third down was third-and-1 or third-and-2. They can use their quick passing game or really run the ball for first downs. It really didn’t allow us to get our pass rush going until the second half and at that point we were just scratching and clawing in the third quarter trying to get momentum, just trying to get a turnover. Unfortunately, that fumble came too late in the game to mean anything. We’ll humble ourselves, which we need to do. We’ll just look in the mirror and figure out, me personally, what can I do better and not worry about anyone else, but what can I do better to help our defense. Did I play to the capability that I can play? You just hope that the other guys on the squad do the same thing.”

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S T.J. McDonald

(On the Bears’ big plays)
“That’s not us. That’s not how we play. We’ve got to tackle better. Everyone’s just got to do the job. Wish we could have some of those back, but we can’t. So, the only thing we can do is just build on it, look at it on film tomorrow.”

(On how they get it back after two tough losses)
“We only know how to work one way. We’ve been through things before. We’ve been through worse. We’ll come back next week, work hard, try to get things right. The only thing we can do is just do your job and try to do it to the best of your ability. You’ve got to put more time in the film room. That’s just what we’ve got to do, and we’ll do that next week.”

(On if they thought they were beyond having a game like this as a team)
“No, I don’t think in this league you can put anything past anybody. But, we definitely didn’t walk in the building and expect it to go like this, but it did. It went that way and started going that direction. Not many positives you can take away from it, but we kept fighting. Had a good turnover at the end of the game. (S) Rodney (McLeod) forced a fumble. Just gave up too many plays at the end of the day.”

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DT Michael Brockers

(On how today felt)
“It hurt. Nobody likes to lose, especially this way and at home. It hurts. We’ve just got to learn from our mistakes and fix it and move on to the next one.”

(On the loss)
Like I said before, it hurts. There’s nobody out here that’s not trying to win. Everybody is trying to play hard. Everybody is trying to make plays. The ball’s not rolling our way. We’ve got to go back to practice and do what we’ve been doing. We’ve been coming to practice, grinding, practicing hard, enjoying it. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make today.”

(On what he thinks went wrong)
“I think they schemed us up very well. They made some plays. They get paid, too. They’re OK to make plays. We’ve just got to make sure we manage it and keep it to a minimum. You don’t want two huge plays to the end zone, stuff like that. Defensively, we’ve just got to fix the mistakes we made today and like I said before, move on to the next one.”

(On if that’s as off balance as they’ve been all season)
“Yeah, I think so. Defensively, just didn’t look strong. They were making some big plays that usually before games, they wouldn’t make. We’ve got to look at the film first and foremost. But definitely fix the mistakes from the film.”

(On if he tips his hat to Bears QB Jay Cutler)
“Oh yeah, you definitely tip your hat. These guys are in the NFL, too. They made plays. They made the plays they were supposed to make and they made plays that killed us. Definitely hats off to them. We can fix our mistakes, too…it might’ve been a closer game.”